1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a floor surface cleaning machine called a "scrubber" for cleaning the surface of a floor by brushing it with a brush while traveling thereon, and more particularly, it relates to an improvement of a squeegee assembly, in which a dirty liquid remaining on the floor surface after the floor surface is cleaned by a brush is sucked up, under the effect of a sucking function of a blower, from the floor surface for collection.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
A conventional scrubber employs a squeegee assembly, which is known to comprise, as shown for example in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication Nos. 38848/1994, 79454/1994, and 58853/1994, two front and rear flexible blades spacedly arranged in parallel opposing relationship.
FIG. 17 shows a construction of the above-mentioned conventional squeegee assembly. In the Figure, reference character Sk denotes a case body on which the sucking effect of the blower acts; SX, an inlet port thereof; Ra, Rb, a front and a rear flexible blade (rubber plate) spacedly attached to the inside of the case body SK at a front and a rear portion thereof; F, a floor surface consisting of tiles T; and M, a joint portion between the adjacent tiles T, respectively.
The conventional squeegee assembly thus constructed has such shortcoming that in case the tiles T are of the type that the joint portion M is formed between the adjacent tiles T, when the flexible blades Ra, Rb are caught by the joint portion M, air is overly taken through the joint portion M to reduce the air sucking speed and as a result, dirty liquid remaining in the joint portion M can not be sucked.
Moreover, since the above conventional squeegee assembly is designed such that dirty liquid is scraped off the floor surface by the pair of front and rear flexible blades Ra, Rb each formed of a comparatively thick rubber plate, in case the floor surface F to be cleaned has irregularities such as the tiles T including the joint portion M as shown in FIG. 17, the flexible blades Ra, Rb can not properly follow the irregular surface of the floor and as a result, spaces are formed between the flexible blades Ra, Rb and the floor surface, thereby allowing dirty liquid or a cleaning trace to remain on the floor surface to be cleaned.
To overcome the above shortcomings, some attempts are made in order to increase the sucking force of dirty liquid by increasing the air sucking speed by means of reducing the space between the front and rear flexible blades Ra, Rb.
However, those attempts are not successful because the actual time for the squeegee assembly to pass the joint portion M between the adjacent tiles T is extremely short and therefore, in case the space between the front and rear flexible blades Ra, Rb is reduced, the time required for the squeegee assembly to pass the joint portion M becomes shorter. This makes it almost impossible to suck dirty liquid remaining in the joint portion M in an accelerated manner by a suction air stream towards the squeegee assembly side. As a consequence, the collection efficiency of dirty liquid becomes so poor that dirty liquid can not be sucked completely by a single attempt of suction.
The present invention has been accomplished under the above-mentioned circumstance.